Fish Chris

Hey Dink, that's because "I have been there myself" ! You just wouldn't believe how tough my first good one on a swimbait was ! I swear that must have taken 10,000 casts on 100 days ! But I finally caught a 9.7 and I was just elated ! :-) Part of me knew it had to eventually work..... but it was easy to let doubt creep in... until it finally happened ! :-) The second, third, (and on and on) ones didn't take near so long. Paul, thank you very much. Man, I hope everyone knows, I can / have gotten burned out too. I often tell the story about how I threw a swimbait for 8 to 10 hours a day, 3 days a week, for like 6 weeks, without a single freaking fish to show for it ! So, I got to a point where I was either going to jump off of a tall building..... or just shift gears, and do something for fun. So, I brought a bunch of crawlers, and went catfishing. And what did I catch ? A 13.0 lb Largemouth ! :-) Go figure ! Did catch a couple of good catfish too though. So, the next week, the weather was finally cooling off a little, and I decided to give the swimbait another good shot (because maybe six fishless weeks was not enough ;-) .....and what did I catch ? A 21 lb Channel cat, on a swimbait ! Doh ! Isn't that the greatest thing about fishing though ? You just never know :-) Peace, Fish

Hey buddy, last week I felt like I could do it any time I wanted to. But now I don't freaking know ! I swear they are already winding it up on the spawn over there. But hey, they are still in there, right ? You need to give me a lesson on the Summer topwater thing for that place again. That 3:16 Junior is looking / swimming pretty sweet.... if I could just get a hit or a follow on the darn thing. Plus I keep waiting to be throwing the Hud, trying for a DD Northern, and end up whacking an 8 or 9+ Smallie ;-) Peace, Fish

Ahhh hey biz :-) ...and Dink, If it makes you feel any better, I've got a best, long time friend, who lives about 200 yards from me as the crow flys. Granted, he's mostly a tournament guy, but he's yet to get one on a swimbait (a big swimbait / a Hud) either. I think a lot of it has to do with the "snowball effect". It's like this; A guy throws a swimbait a little here, and a little there. He doesn't get so much as a bite. Which makes it "REALLY" hard to keep throwing it. So now he's throwing it even less often here, and almost never there. So the odds go down even further, on a bait that's already much more of a "long shot bait" in the first place. But if the guy can just stick 1 good fish on it, it makes it SO much easier to keep throwing it ! And if you keep throwing it, the odds just keep going up that you will catch another.... and another, and before you know it, you will hardly want to throw anything else ! It's just "getting over that hump" that's so hard. Peace, Fish PS, If I had to judge what swimbait fishing was like, based on my "last trip", I'd never want to throw them either ! :-) LOL

Hey Mitch, sure that makes sense. What you, and several others have said, is that catching the biggest fish possible, is not always the first and foremost thing on your minds, and I totally understand that. It's not with me either..... only about 98% of the time ;-) But just to reiterate, the point I was trying to make, is that this guy "is a big bass guy" who I believe would catch a lot more big bass, if he would try some other things. And to look at it the other way around, yes, I have tried most of the stuff he does, and what I have found, is that {just as his own numbers of DD bass in the last 30 years would suggest} his methods make it tougher to catch DD bass. Peace, Fish

Thank you for the responses guys. Pitchinallday Of course I agree, but maybe that's just us.... Muddy, good post..... However "IF" he was catching 7 DD bass to my 1, absolutely "YES" ! I'd at least give his methods a solid effort. Granted, what works for one angler, might not be what works best for the next. But I'd have to try his techniques first, before I decided that they were not for me. Here's an example; I know one trophy bass guru who catches SO many big bass trolling, it's just rediculous ! I've tried, and tried, and have yet to catch a single DD bass while trolling..... But his example is living proof > It works ! I'm just not doing something correctly, but years later, I still have not given up on the idea. In fact, I trolled a little last week, and plan to troll that stretch again this next week. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You guys have to remember, all up until 11 years ago, I had never caught a bass over 10 lbs myself (even though I lived and fished in Cali, for close to 30 years before that) So when I finally decided that I wanted to catch "a bass" over 10 lbs, I tried to throw everything I'd ever learned completely out the window ! Afterall > everything I'd ever learned, had failed to catch me even 1 bass over 10 lbs, in 30 years of trying < So yea', I searched out big bass gurus high and low. And with the handful I found, I considered any crazy ideas they had, if I believed these things had helped their success. Sure, I guess every angler will end up developing some aspects of his fishing, that are "all his" based on personal experiences. But generally speaking, their is nothing I do, that hasn't been done before. Live bait, sight fishing, big swimbaits..... all things that have produced countless big bass for others, and will continue to produce countless more after I'm long gone. Peace, Fish PS, SirSnooksAlot, obviously we are on a completely different page. I have no idea why. I thought I made it totally clear that the guy in question, was a nice guy, and a good fisherman. I take LOTS of fish photos, first and foremost, for ME ! Although I believe lots of guys here enjoy looking at them too. Secondly, I take lots of photos that don't have a fish anywhere in them, as I'm into photography. To myself, and a lot of others, the weight does matter. I keep track of big fish numbers in my head, that many will never even hear about. Biggest from a particular lake. Biggest on a particular lure or bait. Biggest on a particular point. If I didn't keep these numbers, what would my future goals be ??? These are the numbers I'm constantly trying to break. Remember, I'm not competitive, and so I'm pretty much only fishing against myself. {If you "are" competitive, you might not understand, or believe this. I run into those types from time to time} Ya' know, I think a guy has a right to be proud of his fishing accomplishments. I certainly am. But never have I felt that my fishing accomplishments make me a better person. I constantly remind guys that {given the same opportunities} they could catch any of the fish that I do. I think theirs a difference in being proud of ones accomplishments, and in being arrogant. If you have mistook me for the latter, I'm sorry. You might feel differently if we met in person. Man, I'm sorry. That was a bad experience for you, huh ? :-?

I hear you Big Mike, and in many ways, I agree. It's just that this guy calls himself a 'big bass' angler...... which in my book, kind of means, the most important part of most trips, is catching, or at least being in the running, for a big bass. I can certainly relate to doing some things, sometimes "just because they are more fun". Recently, I've caught a couple on crawlers, just because I wanted to play with them on the micro-light. Typically, for myself though, holding a big bass (the bigger, the better) is the most fun I can have ;-) I am planning some trips later this Summer, to a place where I don't expect to get any DD bass. Just lots of 3 to 7 lb'ers.... an 8 or 9 if I'm lucky..... a 10 if the stars line up just right ;-) But yes, that will just be to switch gears from the normal trophy bass mind-set, to relax, and just have fun. Couldn't ever see myself doing that 100+ days a year again though. Peace, Fish

Okay, so yesterday, a buddy and I were talking about a well known CA big bass angler we both know. Now first off, he's a very nice guy. He is also as straight up as they come. If he tells you he caught a 4.9 lb bass, he caught a 4.9 lb bass {I don't care if he was by himself}. Anyway, this guy is a 'great' fisherman..... at the techniques he fishes. Mostly jigs and plastic worms. I'll tell you later about how many DD bass he has caught.... So my buddy tells me this guy caught a his new PB Smallie last week from my favorite Smallmouth lake..... a 4.7 lb'er..... Huh ? I caught 5 of them bigger than that "last week".... and this has been a tough year !?!? But then we start discussing this guys techniques. He doesn't sight fish. Now, I'm not sure if he has any kinds of 'moral problems' with sight fishing, but I do know he wears some pretty heavy duty prescription glasses. So maybe he just doesn't have the eyesight for it. {I have excellent eyesight, and still, their are many times when I can't quite see as well as I'd like to. Sonar / X-ray vision would be nice ;-)} Next, I talked to this guy about live bait once (it's been a long time, but to the best of my memory) he said, "He didn't have any personal issues with it" but it was just too much of a pain to transport, and too slow to fish, yada, yada. Okay. That's cool. And finally, this guy can't / won't fish swimbaits. He says they are just too big and heavy, and his shoulders (or some part of his body) just can't handle throwing a big, heavy swimbait all day. Uhhh.... Okay. But I think if I had the physical ability to drag myself out of bed in the morning, I'd struggle to make at least 2 or 3 casts at each of my best, big fish spots. {I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions about swimbaits... You don't "have" to to throw them all day. I mean, you can if you want to, but you will get 90% of the effect by throwing them a few times, on each of your best spots} So my buddy and I are discussing this guys big fish catches, and it dawns on me........ This guy does basically "nothing" that I do to catch my big bass :-/ The latest breakdown for my 87 DD bass (all caught in the last 11 years) would be right at: 25% on live bait (all either crawlers or dads) 33% sight fishing 40% swimbaits 2% blind fishing, with a small soft plastic, not on a bed (almost forgot the two big ones I got doing this two years ago :-) Bottom line is, I'm not surprised this guy has to work so much harder to get his big fish. However, to his credit, I should mention, that he has caught, I believe somewhere around, 40 DD bass in the last 30 years, with a PB of just over 14. Pretty impressive, regardless of his methods..... but IMPO, even moreso, when you stop to consider all the limitations he has put on himself. Your thoughts ? Peace, Fish

BIZ ! What are you saying !?!? I agree that the big fish are not just jumping into our boats, like a lot of people from other states might believe....... But then again, we DO HAVE lots of big fish ! And if 18lb Bass are not enough, we also have Smallmouths, Stripers, 100 to 300+ lb Sturgeon, Halibut, etc, etc.... + great weather (besides right now :-( Freaking wind :-( + huge cultural diversity, where an oddball like me fits right in ;-) I lived in North Louisiana for 3 years.... Worst 3 years of my life + I never caught a bass over 6 lbs. After I moved back to Cali, I decided I'd never live ANYWHERE else ! I LOVE Cali ! :-) Best weather. Best fishing (at least for big bass). Best place for a whacko like myself :-) Oh, did I mention, I LOVE Cali ? Peace, Fish

Adclem "Firedline" is not braid. It's fused. Word from factory insiders is that the only reason fused line was ever created, is that its much cheaper to produce that real braided lines. Yes, it's a little thinner than mono, and zero stretch, like braid also. But it is stiffer, and crinkly, with the consistency of dental floss. Firedline is the weirdest, funkiest line I've ever tried. Can't imagine how anybody could like that garbage. Powerpro {I'm tempted to use that internet word Meh.... but that is SO gay :-) ....if I were ever talking to somebody and they used the word Meh, I'd think they were choking on something ;D Oh but anyway, I used Power Pro once. Must have got a bad spool, as it broke off on snags much easier than I felt it should. The Spiderwire I used for a few years before that was much better, but too freaking expensive. TUF-Line XP is about the same price as Power Pro, but better IMPO. Peace, Fish

April 1st ! That explains it :-) Fish PS, On a more serious note, I have heard good things about those "shakers", that punch the bottom of your seats, in accordance to the bass notes. Only thing for me is, at this point, my seats get punched plenty hard enough as it is :-)

Thanks guys. Hey Matt Yea', I agree, but my biggest reason there is, that fish that looks 8 or 9 (especially in very clear water) might actually be a 10 or 11 lb'er ! ....and those count ! Peace, Fish

Fish Chris just got reeled in like a trophy bass ! :-) LOL Now I know how it feels !

Hey guys... 1in, my Polks are just the DB's..... but because I have 8" mid-bass drivers (Daytons) I don't have to ask my Polks to get down real low... only playing down to 300 hz or so, and so they play really effortlessly :-) Love the soft dome tweets too. ***, I will look into the halogen backup lights.... Lord knows backing my truck at night with my super dark rear tinted windows in not any fun ! If I could find a Camo motor cover, I'd buy it... and I need a new one now anyway. But as far as covering my Yamaha with Camo, although "we" think it would look cool, I don't think the Yamaha guys that sponsored me would like it so much :-) Peace, Fish

I use nothing but braid on my micro-lights. TUF Line 2/10 to be exact. Power Pro is not bad stuff. At least it's 100% braided Spectra. But FireLine, on the other hand is not even braided ! It's fused garbage, with the consistency of dental floss. BTW, you won't have any problem casting small plastics and jigs, but you might have some line twist issues with Mepps, Panther Martins, etc. Peace, Fish

I tried painting my old aluminum twice, with two different kinds of paint, and almost immediately it started falling off in sheets ! After a trip or two, it looked even worse than before I started. So, after that, I had a friend offer to let me bring it to his work place, after ours, to sand blast the whole thing down to bare metal. It looked so freaking bright and pretty ! Plus it left a surface that could not have held paint any better ! Then I just went off on it with spray cans. The Cabelas camo kit 6 pack, and a stencil or two I thought it came out great ! That was close to 10 years ago, and although I gave my old boat to a buddy, it's still here in town, and to this day, it hasn't chipped one tiny bit anywhere ! Peace, Fish

Hmmm. A few were asked in kind of a goofy way, that doesn't usually pertain to my fishing.... like #9... the fish will move towards cover ? Most often, in our CA lakes, their is no cover, so the fish moves away from you, and towards the deeper water. Or #3..... I'm not supposed to target the usually WAAAY bigger female bass first ? Heck, if I can avoid catching the male altogether, I will. He will still get plenty fired up enough, for that to rub off on the female..... Anyway, I did get #10 right. Yes, often the biggest bass spawn first. Surprised so many missed that one. Think I got 8 out of 10. Peace, Fish PS, John Kerr is an awesome angler, for both tournaments, and trophy bass fishing. For anyone who might not know, he is Mike Longs long time friend, and fishing partner.

Hey guys.... Morts, yes, I know some guys think that wearing a PFD makes them look like a wimp..... I think it makes me look "smart" ! I put mine on at the dock before I leave, and take it off at the dock at the end of the trip. With super lightweight, super comfortable inflatable PFD's, theirs just no excuse to not be wearing one at all times. If I live to be 100, I'll never understand why some guys will spend $50k on a high performance bass boat, but won't spend $100 on an inflatable PFD (or $50 on a scale ;-) Hey BRG, their are certainly times and places where sunfish can be problematic when fishing crawlers for bass..... But my Smallmouth lake, at this time of year, is not one of them. In fact, their are not really that many sunfish in this lake at any time of year, but it does have some BIG ones. The water needs to be about 10 to 15 degrees warmer, and then you have to go look for them, they won't come find you. Hey B_Seaton, I get asked that a lot, but actually, no. I'm just a fisherman who has a thing for camo ;-) Peace, Fish

Hey LBH, right on. I didn't know you were into car audio too ? Brown Bread, huh ? I've heard the name, but will research it some more. Okay, so that one from Brent went over my head My only excuse is, I've got lake water on the brain ;-) Peace, Fish

Exactly Mottfia. In the right (or for myself, wrong) kinds of lakes, you could very easily catch 100 bass a day. But what will you have proved by catching 100, overpopulated, underfed, sunken bellied dinks ? How do you type the fart sound Probably the best numbers fishing I've ever had (along with some decent size) was in 2001, at Clear Lk. CA. {I remember the aprox numbers pretty well, as I've repeated this story so many times } I caught very close to 1100 bass, in 90 all day trips {200 mile round trips BTW... yes, about 18k miles on the truck that year, just for the Clear Lk trips !} But here's the kicker, those 1100 fish weighed very close to 5000 lbs ! Yes, the majority of those fish were 3 1/2 to 6 lbs ! 28 of them were over 8 lbs..... but the biggest fish of the whole year was...... drumroll please..... 9.8 lbs ! Not one stinking double digit bass, out of every darn one of them ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So the next year, I started fishing the tough-as-nails trout-fed trophy bass ponds. My numbers went from 1100 fish, to probably 60 (with just as much time spent on the water). But out of those 60 fish, 27 were over 10 lbs, with the biggest being.... drumroll please.... 16.5 lbs ! Now that's what I'm talking about SIZE definately matters ! ;D Peace, Fish

Thanks again guys. Hey Hawk, I agree smoking the tails would look good.... but I'm already breaking the law with my tinted windows, and {often} my stereo : What I am going to do though, is to get a set of the Harley Davidson edition lights, which have a large portion of the reflectors tinted a little darker.... like smoke over red... kind of black cherry looking, but are still DOT legal. Oh, and one more thing I need to do... My third brake light... I found one that uses LED's and is mostly smoked, except for the part that points straight back. And a bunch more stereo stuff next Winter.... full deadening of all the doors, and roof... digital sound processor.... Peace, Fish

Well thank you CJ Funny you should say it rocks..... Because with 1400 wts RMS, two 12" subs, two 8" mid-bass drivers, and Polk Audio component mids + highs, yea', it does pretty well I mean, it plays rock, alternative, country, whatever, and it's all good. But yes, I can also play some techno bass tracks with 25hz bass, and you can feel it grab you and shake your insides. (like today on the way home from fishing Peace, Fish PS, I think one of the coolest things about my sound system (and I guess this is beginning to be no big deal, to a lot of young guys anymore) is that my deck has a USB cable that ends in my glove box. To that I plug in a tiny little 8gig flash memory chip, which holds my entire music collection of 600 songs, with space for 1000 more ! And its all totally accessable from the deck itself.... Scroll around through song titles, and folder titles. Easy as can be. No more fumbling with CD's while I drive. Heck, no more fumbling with the deck itself. I use the remote, which sits in the cup holder at the end of my armrest :-) No leaning forward... and no wear and tear on the buttons and knobs of my deck :-)

Yea'.... I was afraid of that..... On my PC, on this forum, if you click on the photo, it uses some kind of photo viewer, to re-open the photo, that lets you see the whole thing, by scrolling. Not on yours ? Anyway, here's the URL. You can copy and paste this into your browser; http://www.trophybassonly.com/1123328b0.jpg .....but then if your PC automatically downsizes it to fit your monitor, it's best to size it back up, and scroll back and forth to see it all.... otherwise you get the "jaggies". Peace, Fish

Right on. Thanks guys. Yea' I kind of lean towards not using the camo on the kick panels..... But then again, I LOVE the finish on my boat, while a lot of guys wouldn't want their boat painted like that either........ I'll probably just wait 6 or 8 years when the paint is started to oxidize, and clear coat seperating, then just have the whole darn thing wrapped in Mossy Oak Shadow Grass ;-) LOL Peace, Fish

These are my original custom Ford badges. Of course no matter what color, or styling a Ford truck is, they are always chrome, with black letters. Well, not only would that totally not go with my color and styling, but I always enjoy being the different one anyway ;-) Oh, so anyway, I sanded, and painted the badges satin black, then got the custom decal inlays from PatriotDecals.com. Now, this was my first go around for the oval. I thought it came out nice, and matched the color / styling of my truck spot on. Been using it this way for about 5 months. So then I saw where they would use any text you wanted, on your Ford oval. So, as I thought about it, I decided that I wouldn't want to use anything that didn't start out with an 'F' (in the Ford font) and which was not 4 letters..... so at a glance, someone might not notice that it actually says something other than Ford..... Then it dawned on me..... Uhhhh.... My nickname for nearly 30 years BTW, my paint is called Stone Green...... and yes, I know it's not green But it does really shift around from brown, to gold, to charcoal, depending on the lighting. You guys have all seen my new truck haven't you ? I think it looks perfect with my boat. ........and I hope you can click on the photo, to see it full length, as this shot, and the one below, are pano's, with my boat behind. So, does it look better with, or without the camo rocker panels ??? I've got buddies telling me > Dude ! Do it ! That will look bad . ! It's all you ! And then I have buddies telling me > No way ! That would look stupid. Don't do it ! Personally, I think it would look better when the truck was pulling the boat..... but not as good when it wasn't. Hmmmmm. I actually already have the 3M vinyl Mossy Oak Shadow grass trim kit right here in my closet. Bought it before I even bought the truck. Just have never been able to decide, since I got the truck..... (oh, not trying to confuse anyone with this shot... the camo is photoshopped) Didn't those original chrome badges stand out like a sore thumb ? Anyway...... Since I'm on the photo kick. Here's yet another reason I love my trophy Smallmouth lake so much Peace, Fish PS, Yes, I know my truck looks like either an Army truck, or a Game Warden truck..... But I'm totally okay with that It's all me, and I love it just the same On the F150 forum, somebody photoshopped one of those big, military, 50 cal machine guns mounted in the bed .....and it actually looked like it might come that way ! ;D

Got on the water yesterday morning, and it was flat like a mirror ! Very light boat traffic, and no wind. So, I start my high speed sightfishing (fast idling to cover as much shoreline, as quickly as possible)..... and there's a 2.... there's a 2 and a 3.... there's another.... there's another pair.... and on each one of these I'm thinking.... these fish that look 2 and 3 lbs in this gin clear water, could be 3's and 4 1/2's.... plus I'm thinking about some of them > "Oh man... that one looked glued on.... Ahhh... that one would be easy to fish............ And don't get me wrong, it would have been fun to stop and stick some of those fish.... but then the other side of my brain kicks in and says, "So what if I did" ? They are not big enough to take photos of.... or remember catching tomorrow ? .....and more importantly, I could sit there and spin my wheels on a 3 lb'er (which sometimes can give you as much of a hard time, and "eat up" as much of your time, as a big one, when maybe 100 feet down the shore is the lake freaking record !!! Also, you can't kid yourself and say, "It's only 10am.... I have all day". Ha ! In reality (in these parts anyway) if you have an hour with zero wind and glass flat water, "your lucky" ! And you had better make the best possible use of it ! I guess what it all comes down to is, would you trade a bunch of smaller fish "for a shot at" a big one ? You know what my answer is. But I'm not going to kid you, and say I wouldn't have had fun playing with those 2 and 3 lb'ers..... Oh.... so for those of whom catching 1 small fish makes the trip "not a skunk" and therefor okay.... Right at the end of the day, I was getting ready to head for the ramp, and I see a decent little female Smallie, maybe 3 to 4 lbs, with a little 2 lb male. So I'm like, "what the heck" :-) I start messing with them with a white Huddlebug, the male was the only agressive one, but he kept grabbing the claws, and dragging it out, and never gave me a reason to swing. So I flipped a crawler out there on the micro-light, and struck him :-) 2 lbs.... on a good day. But beautiful, and his eyes were candy apple red ! Anyway, the way I feel, the difference between a skunk, and one 2 lb'er, is too small to quantify. Either way, I'd call it a "paying the dues, for a big one" kind of trip. And it still beat the heck out of work ;-) Late start today, but we will see what happens. The big ones eat best at noon anyway ;-) Peace, Fish